One of my consulting clients recently drew my attention to a very important article – something that is highly relevant to any of us who own portable assets and valuables of any type. In today’s Britain, search warrants are granted in massive sweeps and the innocent have to prove they are innocent or else they have their valuables confiscated. If you are looking for international asset protection or offshore gold bullion investments, it’s something important to bear in mind.

The natural question to ask is, where could this happen next? And, perhaps more importantly, in which countries would this NOT happen? I’ll address those questions below.

“More than 500 officers smashed their way into thousands of safety-deposit boxes to retrieve guns, drugs and millions of pounds of criminal assets. At least, that’s what was supposed to happen.” So begins a recent investigative article in Britain’s Daily Mail.

The Metropolitan Police’s most ambitious operation in its 180-year history, it had nothing to do with national security. In all, more than 500 police officers had been summoned to raid smart addresses in well-heeled parts of London on one massive ‘fishing trip’ – a huge raid on safety deposit vaults of the Safe Deposit Centres Ltd company across the British capital.

The Mail’s investigation, however, paints a very different story: a botched operation that will end up costing the British taxpayer millions in compensation. Undoubtedly, it’s a symptom of big government out of control. And a warning sign to anybody who keeps an onshore safe deposit box. This was an unprecedented court order that allowed police access to not far off 7000 safe deposit boxes – and their justification boiled down to claiming that the mere fact of having a safe deposit box was suspicious enough to justify the raid.

“Just goes to show who the real dishonest people are, when the police have to resort to the sort of thing that we the public would be arrested for and possibly prosecuted. Anorther indication where the system can lie and cheat and get away with it, and they won’t even have to pay the cost. WE WILL” commented one reader on the article.

Another points out what a terrible state the UK is in today. Even local municupal bureaucrats have the power to seize and freeze assets. The average Britain is recorded on CCTV over 50 times per day. Hundreds of thousands of innocent people have their DNA recorded on a database, with no recourse. Dozens of government departments have the right to authorize wire taps.

If you want to get some insights into how the British Police work, read the article by following the link.

Many of our readers have safe deposit boxes, for storing important documents like bearer shares or valuables like gold bullion. We’ve pointed out numerous times over the years the importance of buying real gold bullion rather than ‘digital gold’ like gold ETFs or certificates. Physical gold also has the advantage of not triggering reporting requirements, because gold bars are not a bank or financial account.

HOW TO PROTECT OURSELVES FROM GOVERNMENTS OUT OF CONTROL

But we are not here to scare you. At Q Wealth we believe in presenting practical solutions for your freedom, wealth and privacy. What lessons can we learn from this fiasco?

In my view, the UK and the USA are probably the countries with the most out-of-control governments in the whole world. The expectation of privacy, and being considered innocent until proven guilty, seem to be things of the past in those countries. Others, in particular Australia, are playing catch up very fast. These are the kinds of places where raids like this could be expected again in the future.

On the other hand, clients have frequently asked us for good gold storage options, and in my view Austria stands ahead of the pack. Never say never, but I just can’t see an Austrian judge authorizing this kind of fishing trip. Austria is the only major country where you can still rent safe deposit boxes completely anonymously. (Various options are explored in more detail in our free reports Practical Offshore Banking Guide and The Gold Report – both of which are available in the Members’ Area)

For those needing a storage option in the Americas, Panama might not be a bad place, according to our friend Ammi at Do Business in Panama.

Finally, at a more general level, the lesson from this story is surely not to sit down and cry about what is right and wrong, but to take a pragmatic approach and act decisively but discreetly to protect your assets, and your family, from governments that are out of control. That is what we are all about, and you are in the right place. Feel free to sign up for our Free Q Bytes Membership to learn more about our philosophies and practical asset protection advice.

Asset protection strategies and products offered by international banks in the various offshore tax havens around the globe don’t differ that much in substance. However, there are some interesting and powerful products you might come across in the offshore banking arena that are very different from what your domestic bank offers.

Here are five privacy-oriented offshore banking services that you might be able to achieve to further your freedom, wealth and privacy!
1. Offshore Safe Deposit Boxes

A safe deposit box is a locked box reserved for you in the vault of your bank. In your safe deposit box you might keep documents such as physical stocks or bonds, or for small, high value goods that they want to keep safe… like valuable coins, jewelry or maybe even a stash of federal reserve notes! You might keep these items for pure investment purposes – say gold bullion or uncut rough diamonds – or for more sentimental reasons (your great-grandmother’s wedding ring).

Increasingly, non-bank safe deposit facilities are becoming available. These are good because they are not reportable financial accounts – you don’t have to tell the tax man about them. Our contact in Panama reports a new safe deposit facility opening there, for example. Others, for example in Austria and in the Caribbean, are identified and reviewed in our free (to registered members) report How to Buy and Hide Gold Bullion Offshore.
2. Multi-Currency Accounts vs. Multiple Currency Accounts

Multi-currency accounts are quite common in offshore banks. These are very flexible since they permit you to keep many different currencies under the same account number. When you log in to the internet banking interface of your offshore bank account,  you will see different balances… X amount of US dollars, Y amount of Euros, Z of Yen etc.

Other banks also allow you to hold balances in different currencies, but allocate you a different account number for each currency. The end result is basically the same, but you will have a series of account numbers and you must take care not to confuse them. For example, if you send Yen to the Canadian dollar account number, the bank will assume you want to convert that balance to CAD and will do so automatically.

3. Precious Metals Storage

Some offshore banks offer a basic service where you can buy gold and simply store it in your safe deposit box. This certainly works, but may not be the most practical way of handling it. Why? Because each time you want to buy or sell, you have to visit the bank personally. Only you have access to your box.

There are various other practical ways of buying gold such as Perth Mint Certificates or Exchange Traded Funds, but the security of such investments in the current financial climate is debatable (see our article on Offshore Precious Metals Investments).

But in terms of offshore banking products (and this is especially common in Swiss banks) it’s important to understand the difference between allocated storage, and unallocated – also known as pooled storage. Both these systems are used by private offshore banks. If you would like to read more about them, read our free (to members) Gold Report for a detailed explanation.

4. Numbered Accounts

We’ve all seen James Bond movies, but what might surprise you is that many European private banks still offer numbered accounts today, simply for the asking. Numbered accounts (or pseudonymous accounts, which are the same but are known by code words instead of numbers) work just like any other offshore bank account.  The  difference is the the link between the code number or pseudonym and the actual customer is known only to a few senior managers within the bank. Of course, KYC regulations mean that a final beneficiary must always be identified. But at least this system protects your information from the hands of low level bank staff.

Typically the way numbered accounts work these days is that you will have a numbered account and a regular account in the same bank. Numbered accounts cannot normally be used for regular transactions such as wire transfers. So when you want to make a deposit or withdrawal, your private banker will personally carry out a cash transaction at the counter between the two accounts. In the accounting records, the transaction will appear on your personal account as a cash deposit or withdrawal, so there will be no direct link to your numbered account.
5.  Offshore Credit and Debit Cards

Almost all offshore banks will offer you the option of linking some kind of plastic payment card to your account. This may be anything from an unbranded hole-in-the-wall cash card through to a premium travel and entertainment card like the Platinum American Express or Diners Club cards. The most common brands, of course, are Visa and MasterCard… but there are far more variations on these cards than there are banks in the world! You offshore private banker will be happy to explain the range of cards available.

What your banker will not explain, however, is that you may well be able to enhance your privacy by obtaining a card from a completely different bank. For that information, you need to download and read our free (to registered members) Practical Offshore Banking Guide. There you will find specific information on prepaid credit cards and anonymous cash cards available from offshore banks.

Want to read more about these five services, plus other offshore banking services you might never have even heard of? Then you need to be a member of Q Wealth Report. The first step is to sign up now for our free five part course, Secrets of the Super Rich. Module one of the course, entitled Offshore Banking Made Simple, could be in your inbox shortly!